N̸͕̟̟̳̥̾̚̚Ễ̷̥̃͝I̴̢̠̽̇͊̈͜͠-̷̧̟̟̙̌̈́E̶̡̯̥͚͉̓͗͐̇Ī̵͇-̷͂̈̈́͜E̸̻̺̦̖̿̃̏̒͘I̵̧͉̎̉-̶̡͕̻̪̤̽̒̋͐͠E̵̩̩̤͛I̴̤͋̅̄̌͜-̵͉͋́E̷̻͕̘͌ͅI̸͍͉͂͑̍̉̽G̴̡̫͇͈̅͐̕͠H̸̤̀̐̓̃̕!̶̱͇̮̫͇̽̄

The howling whiney sent a spine chilling gale down our withers. But unlike before, it was louder, and felt like it was coming from everywhere.

Even I, with my Moon mark, could tell that we had all had the same thought.

There was more than one.

A whole herd.

"GET THE FIRES RELIT! I WANT PONIES ARMED WITH WHATEVER WE HAVE!" Tia roared!

As one, the crowd of Ponies broke from their stupefied paralysis at Tia's urging. They rushed to and fro, all but stampeding. Ponies shouted at each other, not in anger, but trying ask questions about what each other had over the din, making the raucous progressively worse and worse.

Something tugged at my cloak.

I turned to find Clover at my side, her hoof on my cloak.

Instead of speaking, she peered intently at my face, as if she was trying to see the contents of my head.

"Uh... Can I help you?" I asked.

"... What were you thinking when you killed it?" she asked evenly.

"Please don't, Tia's probably going to chew my ear off when she has the chance." I responded.

"W-what? No!" Clover shook her head. "What were you thinking specifically? While you were fighting it?"

"... I don't follow." I said as my right ear cocked sideways.

"You don't-? Grr..." She growled softly, stomping a hoof in frustration. But then she took a calming breath and tried again. "Can you explain what was going through your head? I don't care what or why, I have a theory."

"Oh... Um... Ok..." I murmured hesitantly, trying to remember what exactly I was thinking. "Uh... The Windego appeared, chased everypony away..." I listed off. "But then I realized that it would be suicide to run into this weather." I gestured briefly towards the still falling snow. By now, Ponies had relit the smaller fires. "So to stop everypony from running, I charged the Windego." I finished.

Clover sat on her haunches and tapped her chin in thought.

"Is- Is that all you need?" I asked.

"Hm? Oh, Yes." Clover said distractedly. "Go on, we've both got things to do..." With that, the mare got up and dove back into the crowd.

I stood still in the rapidly shifting tide of Ponies, just staring at where the mare had disappeared.

... That was odd...

I glanced around, looking for Tia or for something that needed doing, whichever one I saw first.

I spotted Tia's pink mane amongst the crowd.

With the herd of busy Ponies, It took me a minute to maneuver through to Tia.

When I arrived, Tia was talking with a few Ponies, of all tribes, discussing their supply situation.

I stood silently by and patiently waited.

"-do you think we have enough wood?" Tia asked whom seemed to be the spokespony.

"Hrm-?" he hummed in thought. "Dun' kn'w... Ah s'ppose, ehf whe w'r' tah s'nd Po'nees tah g't 'v'rythang that k'n b'rn."

The stallions accent was so thick, I struggled to understand what he meant, even after being used to Ùllahdmaiden's already thickened accent. Thankfully, Tia seemed to know what he was saying.

"Do you think we have enough wood to draw them back?"

"N't 't f'rst no." he replied. "B't ehf whe cud g't 'nuff, whe cud m'ke et bri't 'nuff tah dr'w th' Po'nees 'hoo ran." the stallion pumped a hoof rather dramatically.

I still couldn't understand a word he had said.

Tia thought.

"... I don't like it." she commented. "Have you burned the ropes yet?"

"No Mayor." a mare I recognized from Ùllahdmaiden responded.

"Good. I want the ropes tied together and used to keep any search parties tethered to the camp." she gestured. "One pony per two lengths... There's too many Ponies in here, we'll trample ourselves before too long. But we can't afford to abandon anypony. This'll get Ponies out, but not lost. And I want a regular rotation so Ponies don't freeze."

"Aye Marm." The stallion grunted, before turning to his fellows and hashing out their duties on how to get the orders done.

"Oh Lu! Are you ok? Did you get injured?" Tia asked.

"No I'm fine... Do you have anything for me to do?"

"I'm glad to hear that." Tia leaned over and gave me a brief hug. I returned the hug, but only for a split second before Tia pulled away. "I sent half of the able bodied Ponies to the windbreak, if there's more of those spirits out, they may come for us. I want you with them. I don't know if you're the only one who can hurt them, but I'm not going to question it until later."

"I can do that." I nodded.

"Good, if you need me, I'll be tending to the fires." she informed.

I nodded in understanding. Tia had always been good with tending fires, so her plan made sense to me.

Nothing more needed to be said.

Without another word, we turned towards our respective tasks.

Ponies with various pitchforks, shovels, and even the tongue of a cart, watched me approach. When I got to them, they had all come to a halt and stared at me.

At first I was confused. Why were they staring? Why were they silent? Had they finally noticed the invisible Moon mark?

"Uh... Hello?" I called out.

Strangely, they kept staring expectantly.

But then it hit me. They weren't staring at a rat in Pony skin! They were staring at me like I was the adult in this situation! Never mind how much older some of them were! There were more than enough wrinkles before me!

"What are your orders?" The nearest one said.

They were looking at me like I were the General...

I was about to open my mouth and ask what they were waiting for, before being interrupted by another howl.

N̴̛͕̜͍͙̾͛̐̈́E̶̖̮͓̠͌̆͗̒Ï̵̛͖̞̘̤̔̈́͊-̵͙̈́̒̒̏̎Ĕ̶̢̛̩͍͉̓͋̽Ī̷̱̏-̴̛͍̫̙̝̐̀͋̀Ë̷̡̪̯͉́̂́̋̕I̷̦͕̤̠̜̾̆͑̔͠-̴͍̍̂͝E̸͖̣̫̮̼̐̌Î̸͕̲̗̲̜G̸̖̠̯̹̃̃͐͝ͅH̵͓͉͒̏̒!̴̙̗̳̻͉̕

"On top of the windbreak!" I exclaimed suddenly. If nopony else was going to do anything, then I would!

The darkness shifted, as if several somethings were swimming inside it.

"Weapons at the ready!" I exclaimed, climbing on top of the windbreak myself.

Three sets of eyes belonging to malevolent, frost bitten souls stared from out of the darkness.

Next Chapter: Chapter 85 The Memories Part 44 Estimated time remaining: 8 Hours, 13 Minutes